Public Theology as "Bridge Building". Issue 2 (8th November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dávila, MT
• Is Part Of: Horizons. Volume 43:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 367
• Page End: 373
• Publication Date: 2016-11-08
• Subjects: Theology -- Periodicals; Doctrines -- History -- Periodicals; 230.205
• DOI: 10.1017/hor.2016.113
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0360-9669

Abstract

Abstract : This exchange between ethicist Peter Gathje and one of the guests of Manna House of Hospitality (Memphis, Tennessee) points to the task of the public theologian. Gathje serves at Manna House, sharing meals and prayers with its guests. Through his blog Radical Hospitality he echoes and responds to the theology of the people he serves, and their deep questions about justice in our world. In this dialogical movement he enters the locations where he serves meals and prays with his "public, " who in turn ask for a justice that seems all too elusive from their vantage point. His "public, " the guests and others who pass through Manna House, are sources for theological imagination and critical questioning, shaping the way Gathje organizes his vision of the Christian story and the liberating truth it seeks to relate to the world.